Media has power to make or break

VERY often reporters are confronted by a story that is hard to believe.
In particular stories that deal with consumerism and politics are often so far-fetched they border on the absurd.
Yet no reporter worth his/her salt will ignore a good story. Journalists are often accused of sensationalising matters just to sell newspapers.
Be this as it may it is very seldom a story will be run, especially in a community newspaper, without the facts being checked out and verified. For no other reason that in a small community the media has the power to either make or break a small business, cause a scandal, have people investigated and fired, or break up relationships.
However, many people also refuse to speak to the press as is their right. But very often it is these very people who will retaliate after a story is published.
This happened a few weeks ago when a client came to Our Times to complain about a local mechanic who had allegedly taken him for a ride.
The mechanic refused to speak to the press, telling the reporter to: "write what you like because I don't care”.
Our Times carried the story without being judgmental and stated that the mechanic had declined the opportunity to respond to the allegations.
The ink had hardly dried on the paper when the mechanic barged into Our Times offices crying foul and threatening to take us to the cleaners. Of course, once he was allowed to vent his anger and given the opportunity to tell his side of the story he calmed down and nothing came of the whole debacle except that we have since had a few other unhappy customers come in to complain about the same mechanic.
In another incident a few years ago, Janice Savage, who is currently serving 15 years for stealing from the municipality, and her husband, Edward, also threatened Our Times with a lawsuit after we exposed some of their shenanigans. They had also declined the opportunity to comment. The rest, as they say, is history.
A further case some time ago was when the now-sacked chief financial officer of the Kouga Municipality, Ridwaan Abdullah, also threatened legal action because Our Times never wavered in exposing the wrong doings in his department. Nothing came of his threats either.
– Cindy Liebenberg